Building tradespersons such as carpenters, electricians, cabinet installers and the like, are often faced with the problem of locating the position of the wall studs behind the installed sheetrock or wallboard forming the wall surface. Such walls are usually formed of the wall studs positioned on 16 inches centers to which are nailed such wall materials as sheetrock or plywood of various thicknesses ranging from 1/8 inch to 3/4 inch. After the finishing and painting of the wall, the nails, and therefore the wall stud positions, are not visually detectable.
At the present time there are generally used three methods to locate the position of wall studs. The most fundamental method is to tap the wall with a hammer while listening and attempting to sense a relatively firm sound which occurs when the hammer is tapped directly over a wall stud. A second and somewhat related method is to drive a nail through the wallboard at positions spaced along a horizontal line until a wall stud is encountered. The former method does not require physical damage to the wall but the latter method is more accurate in indicating the presence and center position of the wall stud.
A third method utilizes a so-called stud finder consisting primarily of a magnet supported in a manner to pivot in the presence of a magnetic material. This finder is moved along the wall surface until it aligns with the head of a nail holding the wallboard on the stud. The location of these nails can be a tedious process. In addition, there is no assurance that the nail is centrally located on the stud thereby rendering no indication of the actual center line of the stud.
Thus it can be seen that previous attempts to locate the wall studs or whatever the purpose have been tedious and time-consuming as well as being frequently inaccurate. It is the purpose of this invention to provide an improved sensor for locating the position of wall studs or similar braces or structural supports behind wallboard within a wall.